I will need to talk to everybody, says Kashmir interlocutor Dineshwar Sharma

File photo of Kashmiri protesters throwing rocks and bricks at an armoured vehicle belonging to paramilitary soldiers during a protest in Srinagar. Dineshwar Sharma was chosen to lead talks for peace in Kashmir that has been wracked by violence since the killing of militant commander Burhan Wani last year.(AP)

Sharma did not want to answer questions on whether he would engage with separatists belonging to the Hurriyat Conference but emphasised that he would speak “to all stakeholders”.

“Peace must be restored in Kashmir and for that I will talk to all people in an effort to bring about a solution,’’ he said.

The newly-appointed interlocutor said he will make his first visit to the strife-torn Valley within “eight-10 days” but multiple government sources confirmed that a lot of homework has already been done.

An intelligence officer, who did not want to be named, as he is not authorised to speak to the media, said, “We have been holding informal parleys with the separatists and have urged them to be part of the dialogue process.” It is not clear whether the separatists would be a part of the just announced dialogue process.

The parleys with various stakeholders — including former militants who gave up the gun and those who returned from camps in Pakistan where they had trained — were in progress when Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his independence day speech, said: ‘Na goli seh, na gali seh, baat banegi gale lag ke.” Modi, had, from the ramparts of the Red Fort, indicated that the way forward lay in a dialogue and not through violence.

Several governments in the past have tried to find a solution through negotiations. The Atal Behari Vajpayee government held talks with the separatists and current chief minister Mehbooba Mufti has for long been asking Modi to ‘’do a Vajpayee”. Mufti’s PDP and the BJP are coalition partners in Jammu and Kashmir.

The UPA government too had appointed interlocutors after the unrest in the Valley in 2010 but the report, submitted to then home minister P Chidambaram was never acted upon.

“I hope I will be able live up to the trust the government of India has showed and will be able to fulfill the expectations of the people,” Sharma told ANI.

Sharma, who will soon visit the Valley, has a tough task ahead as he starts the search for peace.